US rotationally deploys RQ-4 drone from Singapore, sources reveal

MELBOURNE, Australia — The U.S. Air Force has rotationally deployed the RQ-4 Global Hawk drone to Singapore since January, Defense News has learned.

The Northrop Grumman-made high-altitude, long-endurance UAV was sighted at Changi Air Base (East) on multiple occasions from January onward, and Defense News has obtained a photograph of it being towed at the base.

The image was taken from a commercial airliner during takeoff in late February from Singapore’s Changi International Airport, which shares a runway with the base.

An RQ-4 Global Hawk of the U.S. Air Force is spotted in Singapore on rotational deployment in February 2023.

This is the first known operational deployment of the Global Hawk to Singapore, although it has previously visited the island nation for air shows in 2018 and 2022 .

Singapore’s Defence Ministry confirmed in a statement to Defense News that the country “facilitated the short-term deployment of an RQ-4 Global Hawk Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, as part of the 1990 Memorandum of Understanding Regarding United States Use of Facilities in Singapore.”

The ministry provided no further details of the deployment, and the U.S. Air Force referred questions about the deployment to Pacific Air Forces, an American command in the region. Neither Pacific Air Forces nor the U.S. Embassy in Singapore has responded to questions about the deployment.

However, sources in Singapore have told Defense News the unmanned aircraft arrived in January and was still operating from the island in early March, and that it has flown missions almost exclusively at night during the deployment.

The Global Hawk’s long endurance, which the U.S. Air Force says is in excess of 34 hours, means it can take off at night and stay in the air during daylight hours before landing again the next evening.

The deployment also coincided with the presence of the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier Nimitz and the amphibious assault ship Makin Island — as well as and their respective strike groups — in the South China Sea. Both of those ships and several of their escorting vessels visited Singapore’s Changi Naval Base during this period.

In addition to hosting a U.S. Navy logistics facility, Singapore is a security partner of the United States. A 1990 memorandum signed by both countries — and renewed in 2019 — allows American forces to access Singapore’s air and naval bases on a rotational basis. This has seen the southeast Asian nation host rotational deployments of U.S. Navy littoral combat ships and P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft.

Singapore has separate agreements for its Air Force jet and helicopter detachments to train in the continental United States and conduct rotational air combat training in Guam.

Stephen Losey in Washington contributed to this report.

Mike Yeo is the Asia correspondent for Defense News.

澳大利亚墨尔本——据《防务新闻》报道，自今年1月以来，美国空军已轮换向新加坡部署RQ-4“全球鹰”无人机。

从 1 月起，诺斯罗普·格鲁曼公司制造的高空长航时无人机多次在樟宜空军基地（东部）被发现，《防务新闻》获得了一张该无人机在该基地被拖曳的照片。

这张照片拍摄于二月下旬，地点是新加坡樟宜国际机场，当时一架商用客机正在起飞。樟宜国际机场与该基地共用一条跑道。

2023年2月，一架美国空军的RQ-4“全球鹰”无人机在新加坡进行轮换部署时被发现。

这是全球鹰无人机首次在新加坡进行作战部署，尽管它此前曾在 2018 年和 2022 年到访过这个岛国参加航展。

新加坡国防部在一份发给《防务新闻》的声明中证实，该国“根据 1990 年关于美国使用新加坡设施的谅解备忘录，为短期部署 RQ-4 全球鹰无人机提供了便利”。

国防部未提供此次部署的更多细节，美国空军则将相关问题转给了太平洋空军——美国在该地区的一个指挥机构。太平洋空军和美国驻新加坡大使馆均未对此事作出回应。

然而，新加坡方面的消息人士告诉《防务新闻》，这架无人机于 1 月份抵达新加坡，3 月初仍在岛上执行任务，并且在部署期间几乎只在夜间执行任务。

美国空军称，全球鹰无人机的续航时间超过 34 小时，这意味着它可以夜间起飞，并在白天继续飞行，直到第二天晚上再次降落。

此次部署恰逢美国海军“尼米兹”号航空母舰和“马金岛”号两栖攻击舰及其各自的打击群出现在南海。在此期间，这两艘航母及其数艘护航舰艇访问了新加坡樟宜海军基地。

除了驻扎美国海军后勤设施外，新加坡还是美国的安全伙伴。两国于1990年签署了一份备忘录（并于2019年续签），允许美军轮流使用新加坡的空军和海军基地。根据该备忘录，美国海军的濒海战斗舰和P-8A“海神”海上巡逻机已轮流部署到新加坡。

新加坡与美国分别签订了协议，允许其空军喷气式飞机和直升机分遣队在美国本土进行训练，并在关岛进行轮换空战训练。

华盛顿的斯蒂芬·洛西对本报道亦有贡献。

Mike Yeo 是《防务新闻》的亚洲通讯员。